"Tch." Arashi curled his lip and tossed the invitation back to Fugaku, his tone returning to its usual disdain. "What's so great about going to a boring ceremony like this?"
Fugaku had long since gotten used to his saying one thing and meaning another, so he did not get angry. He simply pushed the invitation back again, setting it on the scroll in front of him. "You have to come. You are... very important to me."
"Huh?" Arashi shot his head up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his cheeks faintly warming. "Who... who's important to you! I just think that, as your disciple, if I don't go to an occasion like this, the people who know about that relationship will gossip, that's all!"
Looking at his awkward expression, Fugaku could not help laughing out loud. "All right, all right. It's so you won't be gossiped about."
He patted Arashi on the shoulder and turned to leave. "Remember to arrive on time. Don't dress too casually."
"I know, I know!" Arashi waved impatiently and lowered his head again to read the scroll, but the corner of his eye could not help drifting toward that scarlet invitation.
The man who, in the future, would kill his father and mother and slaughter the entire Uchiha clan surfaced unconsciously in his mind. He was none other than Fugaku and Mikoto's future eldest son—Uchiha Itachi.
"Teacher Fugaku, with me here, even if heaven and earth overturn, even if mountains collapse and seas split, you will remain safe and sound."
Deep in his heart, those words quietly emerged.
Several days later, a faint, lingering sweetness seemed to drift through the broad Uchiha grounds.
Deep within the Uchiha Clan Compound, the clan head's residence, usually somewhat cold and quiet, had completely changed